Ceiling of the Sunol Water Temple in Sunol, California. Designed by Willis Polk, the temple marks the convergence the Alameda Creek, Arroyo de la Laguna and the Pleasanton Well Fields. Click on the image for a Contra Costa Times account of its centennial last weekend. Image source: Wikipedia.

The Tribal Council on Wednesday tabled a bill that would have given the tribe 31,000 acre-feet of water a year from the Colorado River, the un-appropriated surface flows from the Little Colorado River and nearly unlimited access to two aquifers beneath the reservation. —Navajo lawmakers table proposed water settlement, Associated Press/Arizona Capitol Times, September 30, 2010

“Put enough agreements on top of it that it becomes meaningless.” — Southern Nevada Water Authority general manager Pat Mulroy on her new strategy to get around inequities inherent in the Colorado Compact, Las Vegas’ worried water czar, New York Times, September 28, 2010

“This morning I came, I saw and I was conquered …” “…enough water, for example, to cover the whole State of Connecticut to a depth of ten feet …” “Salinity, sedimentation, pesticide contamination, diminishing hopes of replenishment, the dangers of aging, collapsing dame…” — Hoover Dam quotations, UC Berkeley

District farmers are paying part of the cost — about $10 per acre more in annual irrigation assessments. Most of the funding, however, is coming from the federal and state governments under a federal law that contributes money for the district to automate its canal, create small canal-side reservoirs that store water until it is needed, and to install large sections of pipe in the distribution system. That law allows the district to keep a third of the water it saves, while two-thirds is returned to the river for instream flows. — Irrigation districts investing in water conservation, Yakima Herald-Republic, September 29, 2010

“If he wants to pick a fight with an entire Valley population whose economy hinges on a fair share of water, we’ll give him one.” — San Joaquin Valley congressman Jim Costa swiping at Bay Area Rep George Miller over Miller’s defense of Bay-Delta fisheries, California Democrats battle over water subsidies for farmers, McClatchy, October 1, 2010

“Put the guns away. Everybody has to do this through the law. Cabot has to follow the law. You have to follow the law.” — Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection Secretary John Hanger pleads for calm with residents of Dimock, PA, whose wells have been contaminated by methane, allegedly by gas fracking by Cabot Oil & Gas Co., Pennsylvania targets driller for tainted water, Tulsa World, October 1, 2010

The oil and gas industry maintains that hydraulic fracturing has been used safely for decades and that there has never been a proven case of groundwater contamination caused by fracking. — GE launches device to recycle fracking water, AP/Seattle Times, September 30, 2010

“When people were saying, ‘BP’s days are numbered in the U.S.,’ Russia said, ‘We’ll take you.’ Russia, by helping BP in its bleakest hour, will definitely raise its standing among Western nations.” — Oil analyst Fadel Gheit, In Russia, BP sees a second act, New York Times, September 28, 2010

Click on the Periodic Table abbreviation for an abstract of the September 2010 Environmental Health Perspectives article looking at health effects of manganese in groundwater.

Woodmoor [Water & Sanitation District] has filed an application to move water it does not yet own from Pueblo and Otero county ditches by exchanges through facilities it does not control to its system in northern El Paso County. — Water Board: Time to stop speculation, Pueblo Chieftain, September 29, 2010

$8.8 million for landscaping at a La Verne treatment plant is prudent when MWD is constantly raising water rates on customers rocked by the sharp economic downturn? Spending $7.9 million for a marina, visitor center and RV park at a Riverside County lake is prudent for a water wholesaler? … [The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California] just does what it wants to do and expects its clients to shut up and go along. — Editorial, MWD: Arrogance is in water giant’s DNA, San Diego Union Tribune, September 30, 2010

For a full round-up of California water news, go to Aquafornia, the newsfeed of the Water Education Foundation, or to UC Berkeley’s On Water. For San Diego water news, try Groksurf’s San Diego. Or, for all things fresh water, do check in with WaterWired.

Comments

Hoover power (from my book): the US Congress — not markets, highest and best use, or willingness to pay — decides who gets access to the 4 billion kilowatt-hours (14,400 Terajoules) of hydroelectric power Hoover generates. The wholesale value of that power is $168 million per year (at 4.2 cents/kwh), but the Congress only charges cost. Since this is 1.8 cents/kwh, that means that the Congress gets to choose the lucky buyers who get the annual $96 million discount.